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Gun Violence in America

by Gabriel M. on October 24, 2017 - 9:49am

The atrocious shooting that occur every single year in America and the constant fear of murder in Chicago, New York, Miami, Las Vegas and many more major cities in the United-States propulse the gun control debate at the center of discussions. In what seems to be dividing the political right and left more and more, many call for either less or more guns for reasons of public safety. The Republicans and conservatives argue that more guns would increase the safety of communities whilst liberals and Democrats see less guns and more regulation as a more positive alternative. An article published by Global News put gun violence in the United-States in numbers and found some truly shocking results, such as the fact that guns are responsible for the deaths of 1,300 children in America every single year. They also compared the U.S. with the rest of the developed nations and found their gun murder rate to be 25 times higher than the one of the land of the free.

First, the American Journal of Medicine found that guns per capita per country were strongly correlated with the nation’s respective firearm related death numbers. The journal also expresses concerns for the fact that America has a higher firearm related death ratio than South Africa, an African nation. According to this same study by the AJM, guns do not make a nation safer, mindless of what the Second Amendment of the United-States constitution says. The journal ended with saying that guns per capita and crime are not correlated but that guns per capita and firearm related deaths are strongly correlated.

Furthermore, the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reports that more than 31,000 people die every year in the U.S. from gunshot wounds. Adding to this trend of violence is over 337,960 non fatal attack committed with guns every year in America. The School goes on to say that the country spent an average of 32 billion dollars in 2010 in health costs related to these incidents, which, to put into perspective, is more than the allowance to Agriculture in the federal budget of 2015. The journal concludes their research by saying that contrary to recent media reports, a large majority of the American people, including gun owners, favors remedying many current flaws in our gun laws.

Finally, the Justice Policy Journal did an intricate research on gun violence in America, and their conclusion was exactly the same as the two previous ones we just looked at. They spoke out against gun owners and critics, saying that slight policy changes would not negatively affect the ownership of these firearms. They said “Gun advocates should acknowledge that at least some modifications to present “gun control” measures would be generally preventative, and “gun control” supporters should concede that legally owned firearms may also serve a deterrent or protective function.”

In the end, we can assume that guns are linked to violence in a country. As mentioned in the last three studies we have just overlooked, there is overwhelming evidence that guns are related indirectly and directly to gun deaths in nation, in this case America, where over half of the world’s mass shootings occur every year. In conclusion, we can say that gun control and preventative measures could be an immense advantage for the people of the United-States to live in a safer, more prosperous country.

Comments

Hi, Gabriel. This is Shimin from Hyogo, Japan. Your posting is very informative.

It is undeniable that gun possession, gun control, and gun violence are major problems in America, that absolutely cannot be neglected. However, it is a larger problem when guns itself becomes the assumed method of solving the issue. Across articles that I have read before, there are Americans who used to not own guns. They started possessing them, in hope of protecting themselves from the real offenders who abuse the possession of the arms. It is truly a problem when Americans think that
the solution to the issue, is the issue itself. Having this mindset will only increase the number of people carrying guns in America, and not help at all with the idea to decrease gun violence.

In Japan, there are hardly any gun-related cases. Although it is difficult to say for the yakuza (mafia), gun possession is against the law. There are hunters in Japan who are allowed to possess and use them, but only with a license that is very tightly controlled. The process of obtaining the license is very strict, to the point that the authorities will actually ask parties related to the concerned hunter, in order to judge if the license can be processed.

America can solve the gun issue, only if she is truly determined to get rid of the arms in the country. However, it can be very complicated as the number of people involved is very huge, and the culture between America and Japan is very different.

What are the gun laws in Canada?

About the author

Hi, my name is Gabriel. I play soccer and guitar, I enjoy writing and public speaking, I'm already involved in many debates on various platforms in which I write mostly about politics and the news, including everything to do with freedom of expression, education and the next generation to come.